I was out for breakfast this morning with a long lost friend (I mean, how can you come from neighbouring towns in Norway and live in Melbourne and see each other every 5(!!!) years?!) and I had two piccolos. Piccolo, for those of you who are not that knowledgeable in the italian coffee language, is sort of like a mini cafe latte (same amount of coffee, just less milk). After going for a little wander, I am now on my third piccolo for the day (rare, but it happens sometimes) and I know I will be buzzing for the rest of the day. I was thinking a bit about it though, how many calories is in everything we drink? I mean, a piccolo doesn’t really contain much, but I know people who could down three large lattes with two sugars in each in the same time I spent drinking my mini coffees. What do you drink?

My mini coffee

My ‘out for a wander’ shoes today

Starbucks are one of those (not so) fabulous coffee places that will actually tell you how many calories are in your drink. There used to be a Starbucks on every corner in Melbourne CBD a few years back, but they are becoming fewer and fewer, and as we speak I can only mention two. Because their coffee is pretty average (my personal opinion of course), especially when you are spoilt enough to live in Melbourne, a coffee city of another dimension. There’s great little cafes and coffeeshops for every ten metres you walk and because the competition is so massive, they HAVE to make good coffee. If not, you just won’t go back there, because their neighbour makes good coffee. It’s a no-brainer. I love coffee, so I chose the right city.

I’m getting off track here (as usual), let’s get back to the calories you are drinking without even thinking about it. At Starbucks you can actually have a look at content, just bear in mind if you add sugar or more sugary syrups, these numbers will naturally even go higher. I am looking at the number from a full cream milk perspective, because that’s just who I am. You can basically have a whole dinner’s worth of calories in one coffee. I think the most extreme coffee I saw on the menu was a White Chocolate Mocca with a whopping 550 calories in a venti, which is a huuuuge one. That my friend, is a waste of calories. I am more concerned about the sugar and carb content though and it also has a whopping 77grams of carbs. In that one drink! That’s crazy! I do assume though (but you know what happens when you assume; you make an ass out of u and me…haha) most people don’t down one of these every day?! You can only hope, right?

So, if you are a little more conservative in your choice of coffee, you might go for a grande latte (which is still pretty big). You will then get 22o calories and 18 grams of carbs (unless you add your own sugar on top of this, then you have to add about 5 grams of carbs per teaspoon). I KNOW masses of people who can have 3-4 of these daily. One in the morning, one for morning tea, one for lunch and then a cheeky on for afternoon tea, when you’re about to fall asleep at your desk… Am I right?? Do the maths (I you’re not great at maths, it’s 220×4 (without sugar), equals 880 calories. That’s almost half your daily energy needs JUST from your daily coffees. That is just insane.

I hear this from women that just want to lose those last 5 kilos, who “are doing everything right” and eating “perfectly” every day and they just don’t seem to get anywhere. Well, are you surprised? This is just coffee, so imagine if you are having orange juice with your breakfast? And a Vitamin Water sitting at your desk. Maybe you have an apple juice for lunch (because juice is good for you, right?!) and after your massive and extremely hard workout (can you tell I am being sarcastic here? Just making sure it’s getting through between the lines) you just need an energy drink to get through the rest of your day? I am not even gonna add all of these carb loaded, filled to the brim with sugar drinks up for you. You can do the math yourself. Then add up for the whole week and even the whole year. Look at all those added carbs and/or calories you are drinking (I don’t know if you worry about one or the other, or both) every day.

Now, look at the difference in say a piccolo and a latte, or a long black and a cappuccino. Do you think you can change your coffee? It might not sund like such a massive thing to change, but just imagine all the calories you can save in a year. If losing weight is a problem for you and you just “can’t not have your coffee” or just “have to have sugar in your coffee”, just start with a small change. This applies to anything you drink with calories by the way, and that’s pretty much everything accept Water (no, not Vitamin Water an similar), Diet Drinks (they still have artificial sweeteners, who knows what they will do to you in the long run – maybe they will make your legs long and your skin perfect?), Black Coffee/Espresso and Tea (hold the sugar). What do you drink? Is that a problem for you?

But remember, as long as you stay away from the Banana Bread or the Apple and Cinnamon Muffin with your daily coffee(s), you’ll probably do just fine. You probably will do just fine with the bread and muffin too, it’s just a matter of what matters to you, in the end of the day. Cheers (in a glass of water this time, no more coffee for me today!) 🙂

I went camera crazy in the streets of Melbourne this morning, stay tuned for a Photography blog coming later. I love graffiti!

4 Responses to How Many Calories Do You Actually Drink?

I have one coffee with a splash of coconut milk in the morning then it’s water all day unless I’ve been running when I have a glass of dairy free chocolate milk as a recovery drink. So many hidden calories in drinks especially sports drinks! I try and stick to calorie free electrolyte drinks unless it’s a big run when I’ll take on a gel with water… P.S. love the graffiti 🙂

Last time I was at Starbucks I checked the calorie content of all the drinks, and found one that had seven hundred-something kcal. I mean, that’s just crazy!
I just drink tea. Lots of it. Sometimes with a little milk. Water when working out, and maybe a glass of chocolate milk after a hard workout. Mmm! But I practically never drink soda, juice or sports drinks, just because I don’t really like them that much. The calorie issue plus the fact that it’s not very good for your teeth is just a bonus 🙂